Molecular Characterization of Orobanche crenata in Egypt Using ISSR Markers and Its Relation to Faba Bean Breeding

Orobanche crenata is an annual parasitic weed that causes heavy losses to its host crop faba bean (Vicia faba). Determining the genetic diversity in Orobanche germplasm is a preliminary crucial step in faba bean breeding.It helps in identifying liable criteria of host tolerance. The current study aimed to determine the genetic diversity for Orobanche collected from two divergent locations in Egypt (Giza and Sids). The inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers were used to determine genetic relationships among and within the collected groups. The number of produced fragments covered 218 to 980 bp of the total of Orobanche crenata genome. The five used primers generated a total of 73 ISSR products with an average of 14.6 products / primer. The polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.86- 0.94.

Analyses of molecular variance indicated significant difference within each region. The difference between the two locations was not significant (3%) due to great variation within locations (97%). The cluster analysis devided the 96 Orobanche samples into five sub-clusters. The study signified the efficiency of ISSR molecular technique in estimating genetic relationships across the two divergent locations at the genomic level. It also was consistence with the predominantly allogamous behaviour of O. crenata. Because of Orobanche diversity, faba bean breeders should develop host varieties with heterogeneous background and don‟t release any pure line host in infested soils.